Across the street from where a man was shot dead just 12 hours before, Lorna Crawley and Sharon Johnson fold up a sandwich board and carry it inside the North End Parent Resource Centre.

Written on it in chalked, swirled handwriting is an advertisement for the community bread-making workshop down the street, from which they've just returned.

"It's a slow-rising bread, it takes two days to rise," says Crawley. "Who ever heard of two days for bread!"

The local bakery outing is one of many ways Crawley and Johnson have been working to provide opportunities in their neighbourhood. They've both been at this for 30 years, raising children in the community, and doing their part to "mother" the neighbourhood.

But despite the numerous programs and services in the community, the women fear the support offered doesn't get at the heart of the problem.

A Halifax Regional Police officer clears the scene at Uniacke Square after a man was shot to death on Monday night. (CBC)

Inside the resource centre on Uniacke Street, which holds a gym, kitchen, and meeting space, Crawley and Johnson join program manager Vicki Samuels-Stewart around a kitchen table.